Bringing Air New Zealand’s 777s back to life, for now

As Air New Zealand prepares to finally bring its fleet of Boeing 777s out of the Californian Desert, Hannah Dowling spills the details of the procedure and the fate of this soon-to-be retired flagship.

After nearly 700 days in the Mojave Desert, Air New Zealand’s flagship Boeing 777-300ER jets are being dusted off ahead of their return to Aotearoa. As the COVID pandemic began to spread worldwide in early 2020, and countries locked down their borders to overseas travellers, airlines were put in the impossible position of determining how to account for an unprecedented drop in long-haul international flights.